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[andrea]

I am not sure that is a revision...

[joha4270]

Industrial Athena (1): TFF
Hephaestus Mark 2 (2): Chiefwaffles, Andrea
Fusion Forge(1):Blood_Librarian

No strong feelings about reversions right now (1): joha4270

[Blood_Librarian]

It's placing the industrial process into orbit, with the benefits that it entails.

[TheFantasticMsFox]

Industrial Athena (0):
Hephaestus Mark 2 (3): Chiefwaffles, Andrea, TFF
Fusion Forge(1):Blood_Librarian

[3_14159]

Let me offer an alternative which gives us the advantage in the next battle, and allows us to continue designing thrusters. Next turn, the fusion torch ram-rocket gunship? Or fusion-drive space missile?

Hermes II plasma thruster

The main difference between the old and new Hermes generations are in the incorporated reactor. Where the Hermes I is based on the Helios, the new Hermes II uses a dedicated Caduceus reactor. While far smaller, the new reactor and its ease of extracting plasma still makes for a far more efficient thruster. Since the nozzle is comparatively smaller, it can be easily mounted on a gimbal, and one of five degrees has been included.

The new Hermes II thruster has been included in the Mk. 2 Cuttlefish, which mounts n (four?) of those. Through the gimbal and thrust varying, it reaches unprecedented manoeuvrability. Depending on the mass of the Cuttlefish and of the Hermes II, it's also acceptable to mount them as high-powered RCS.

Industrial Athena (0):
Hephaestus Mark 2 (3): Chiefwaffles, Andrea, TFF
Fusion Forge(1):Blood_Librarian
Hermes II thruster (1): 3_14159

[joha4270]

Lets get an overwhelming majority and get something rolled.

Industrial Athena (0):
Hephaestus Mark 2 (4): Chiefwaffles, Andrea, TFF, joha4270
Fusion Forge(1):Blood_Librarian
Hermes II thruster (1): 3_14159

[NUKE9.13]

Hephaestus Mark 2
First off: Athena is integrated in the Hephaestus, but to a more-limited degree - like an "assistant" helping with the process. This takes advantage of our prior attempt at integrating Athena as well as the recently-done Athena flexibility without particularly detracting from the rest of this revision.

The Hephaestus Mark 2 takes all we've learned about the Hephaestus process from what was essentially the prototype "trial run" (and just general fusion knowledge) to greatly improve our process. Rather than fusing light elements to produce energy, we can consume energy to fuse heavy elements. Modified fusion reactors can fuse all the way up to Insulanium (and possibly beyond) starting from some heavy isotopes, and the Insulanium plasma is vented and collected for further use. And thanks to the newly-acquired Caduceus, these reactors should be relatively small and cheap in addition to being better at production than their old counterparts!

TL;DR: We conduct the Hephaestus process via using modified Caduceus reactors to fuse our way up to the desired elements.

Hephaestus Mark 2 (Normal): (2+3)=5: Average
Hephaestus Mark 2 is more or less a complete overhaul of how we synthesize Insulanium. A complete overhaul that was distinctly worth it.
A Hephaestus plant now consists of rows of three medium-sized reactors. Raw elements are fed into the first, heavier elemental plasma is automatically siphoned from the first into the second (which also has its own influx of raw materials), even heavier elemental plasma is fed into the third (ditto), and finally Insulanium plasma is siphoned out of the third. The process is remarkably rapid, and a single row of reactors produces as much as an entire facility did with the Mk 1. This has slashed the cost of Insalloy (although it still ain't free)- Armoured Cuttlefish and the X100-I now have a negligible cost increase over the unarmoured versions, and the cost of Aegis Drones has been halved.
Athena has been reworked to serve as an overseer of the Hephaestus plants, leading to a marginal increase in efficiency, and a substantial increase in management-level personnel complaining about computers "tukking their jurbs".


It is now the Strategy Phase of SY104.

(Edit: changed Aegis TC requirement from 0.5 to 0.2)

Spoiler: Tech List (click to show/hide)

Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): The ships that carried colonists to your homeworld, now repurposed as military transports. They use rocket shuttles to ferry things to and from the surface. These shuttles have a limited capacity, meaning that with the exception of troops, the ITC cannot carry any equipment of a size greater than 1TC. It has 4TC. It uses chemical engines for propulsion. It has no armour or armaments. It is Very Slow, and quite large.
Cost: 2SPP

ESC-FS 1 'Cuttlefish' laser corvette: A medium-sized spaceship. The Cuttlefish's hull vaguely resembles its namesake. The 'beak' is a "Hermes" variable-water-injected fusion thruster, which draws plasma from the Helios-S reactor. It has very light armour, and has three AX4-Spear turrets, which are automatically aimed by the Athena RL System, which also handles evasive manoeuvres. The more ships in the fleet, the better Athena performs, due to her distributed computing. Its speed is Moderate, though it can inject extra water into the thruster for a temporary speed boost.
Cost: 2SPP
  Insalloy Armour: A few plates of Insalloy, formed into a basic armour covering for the Cuttlefish. Despite being thin, they increase survivability by as much as 100%.
  Cost: Negligible increase.


Equipment
Printed Pistol: Issued to security guards before the war, the only real weapon both colonies started with. They are 3D-printed out of plastic, a process which is not entirely reliable, meaning the gun has a tendency to break after prolonged use... or any use, really.
Cost: Cheap

X100 Space Suit: A civilian space suit, totally unarmoured and cumbersome to walk in. At least it works well enough, and has a self-sealing lining meaning a single shot isn't an immediate death sentence... most of the time. Necessary for deployment to worlds without breathable atmospheres.
Cost: Cheap
  X100-I: Literally just a few plates of Insalloy bolted onto the outside of an X100.
  Cost: Cheap

EAF-X1 "Ranger" Laser Rifle: A big, bulky firearm, weighing in at 15kg- just barely wieldable whilst standing. Works best against stationary targets. Can fire 30 shots in pulse mode before reloading, or 15 seconds in beam mode. Beam mode has pretty good armour penetration against conventional armour. Comes with basic scope and bipod. With the scope it is accurate at Long range.
Cost: Cheap
  EAF-PX3 Raider: A variant of the Ranger, using the new Picasso Pattern. Weighs a 'mere' 7.5kg. Fires shorter pulses, and deals more damage against moving targets. Does not have a beam mode.

Interplanetary Radio: Essentially just a very big radio set, capable of reliable communication between planets. Too big to fit on an ITC. Currently only useful for taunting Quillus.
Cost: 2GPP
Weight: 2TC


Vehicles
EAC-TML1 Sarissa Missile Launcher: A nuclear-missile launcher consisting of three shuttle-loads worth of stuff: a small electric truck, a launch trailer, and the missiles themselves. The launch trailer loads 8 missiles, tipped with extremely small nuclear warheads for maximum 'tactical' performance. The missiles are controlled by Athena, who is now capable of flying missiles and identifying ground targets. Their range isn't great, and the launcher misfires (harmlessly) about 25% of the time, the guidance system is a bit wonky even under Athena's capable control, and the truck+trailer is slow and unwieldy, but still, nuclear-missile launcher!
Cost: 2GPP
Weight 2TC/1TC in shuttle.

EAF-ACD1 "Aegis": an Athena-controlled drone with an Insalloy frame. It has some trouble walking, shooting straight, and possesses sensors that aren't great, but it is not totally incompetent. Due to a lack of on-board processing power, they require a nearby Aegis Commander- just a big Athena node with an antenna, carried by two Aegis drones- to do anything useful. Do not say "Roger roger" repeatedly.
Cost: 1.5GPP
Weight: 0.2TC for a 100 drone complement. (Units may equip an unlimited number of drones)


Infrastructure
Colony Defence Grid: The reason you can't instantly invade the enemy homeworld. A series of surface-to-orbit missile launchers, the only real concession to self defence the planners of the colony made. How they work is a mystery, and no one wants to risk taking them apart to find out.

"Helios" Fusion Reactor: A large, Tokamak style reactor. Performs He3-He3 fusion, though it does not take full advantage of this. Provides 2SPP and 2GPP.
  Helios-S: A variety specifically designed for use in spaceships. A 'twisted' plasma flow allows for plasma to be siphoned off without disrupting the reaction.

"Caduceus" Compact fusion reactor: A Polywell-style reactor, available in far smaller sizes than the Helios- as small as 1m³. Also performs He3-He3 fusion, and takes advantage of this. Can easily have plasma siphoned off for use in Hermes drives.

Misc Tech
Nanoquantum Capacitor Cells, Escher Pattern Mk2: AKA NQ Cells. About 15 times better than chemical batteries. Palm-sized, weigh about a kilo each. Despite their apparent complexity, manufacture and usage is simple.

Libum-265K: A near-room temperature superconductor. Manufacture is complicated.

Hephaestus Synthesis: A complicated process that produces small amounts of Insulanium- an isotope of a certain element that resides in the "Island of Stability"; it is very heavy, yet relatively stable. Produced in too small amounts to make anything practical out of it, it is instead alloyed with more common metals, which substantially increases their strength even with only 0.25% Insulanium added.
  Hephaestus Mark 2: A new method of Insulanium production, that uses fusion reactors to fuse up to the desired element. Substantially lowers the cost of Insulanium-using designs.

Spoiler: Observed enemy tech (click to show/hide)

Ships
ITC (Interplanetary Transport Craft): New shuttle spotted:
  QS-RAS-00 'Dove': A heavier shuttle for the ITC, powered by a Loki-class Stardust reactor and fitted with Apollo thrusters. It has light armour and two 30mm Hayks. Can carry 3TC. Adds 1SPP to the cost of an ITC.

QS-CA-99 'Odin': A heavily armoured medium-sized spaceship. Her hull is all slope, the front being a point, from which slopes lead up to the widest point, then slopes lead down at the same angle, before being cut off, leaving a large flat area in the back, where the main thrusters are. Aforementioned main thrusters are three Apollos. She has five smaller thrusters mounted pointing in other directions, providing excellent manoeuvrability. Her powerplant is a Stardust reactor. She is armed with four Mjolnir turrets providing excellent coverage, and a single spinal-mount extra-long Mjolnir. Her armour consists of a layer of Heavy titanium with faraday insulation, with a layer of Light ceramics mounted a full three meters away from the main hull. Despite her bulk, she moves at a Moderate pace.
Cost: 3SPP

QS-SF-00 'Loki': A small-ish fighter, capable of independent operation for a few days before needing to resupply. A substantially downsized Stardust reactor provides power to the Apollo thrusters, as well as the singular Mjolnir coilgun. Has light armour, and a radio capable of same-orbit communication. Requires a transport to act as 'mothership'- two Lokis take up 1TC
Cost: 1SPP for two.

Equipment
Printed Pistol: No differences noticed.

X100 Space Suit: No differences noticed.

Interplanetary Radio: No differences noticed.

QS-IRW-99 'Hayk': The Hayk is a micromissile-firing rifle. It is magazine fed, has a reasonable rate of fire, and is accurate at a surprising distance- theoretically out to Long range, although few are capable of such superhuman feats. There is an ammo variant which explodes on contact, though it is less accurate and in shorter supply.
Cost: Cheap

QS-GL-02 'Fog Machine': The Fog Machine is a simple grenade launcher, basically nothing more than an oversized Hayk with a shortened barrel. It fires either smoke/chaff or explosives. Range/accuracy is a bit of an issue.
Cost: Cheap


Vehicles
QS-MBT-02 'Hrungnir': The Hrungnir is a big tank, with fairly heavy armour in the form of a layer of ceramics atop a layer of titanium (all sloped). It is powered by a Stardust reactor, basically the same one used by the Loki. The energy is used to drive electric motors which in turn drive the treads upon which the Hrungnir sits. It is equipped with a 50mm stabilized auto-loading Mjolnir coilgun, the barrel of which can also be used to fire upsized explosive Hayk rockets. It has an electronics package that handles fire control and sensors. It also has smoke/chaff dispensers, which automatically cloud the vehicle in smoke/chaff (for atmosphereless planets) when sensors detect unusual heating.
Cost: 4GPP
Weight: 3TC


Infrastructure

Colony Defence Grid: No differences noticed.

QS-CPP-96 'Stardust': A fusion reactor, copies of which can be found across Quillus, powering industry. Utilises powerful niobium-tin superconductors, cooled by liquid helium, to contain plasma in a Tokamak-style. The "Brokkr's Forge" improvements have made it slightly more effective, to the point where it reaches ignition. Grants 2GPP and 2SPP. A smaller version designed for use in spaceships also exists.


Loose Parts
QS-MAC-97 'Mjolnir': A coilgun (and definitely not a railgun) capable of firing 150mm slugs at considerable speeds. Requires a substantial power supply. Ground installations cost 1GPP for four. Ship mountings cost 1SPP for eight.

QS-MHD-98 'Apollo': A magneto-plasma-dynamic thruster of exceptional efficiency. Uses hydrogen plasma by default; heavier elements can be injected into the mix for a boost in thrust.

Spoiler: Production (click to show/hide)

Ship Production Points: 16+2+2(E)
  6 Points: 3xITC
  2 Points: 1xCuttlefish
  8 Points: 4xArmoured Cuttlefish
  4 Points: -

Ground Production Points: 16+2+4(E)
  0 Points: 4xX100-I
  4 Points: 2xSarissa
  18 Points: -
 
Units: 5
  1 Unit on planet A (X100-I)
  2 Units on planet D (X100-I, Sarissa)
  1 Unit on planet E (no extra equipment)
  1 Unit on planet F (X100-I)

Spoiler: The Map (click to show/hide)

Don't even worry about this looking nothing like a solar system. Its, uh, optimal transfers or something. Look, it's dumb, but what do you want from me?

Key:
A: A volcanic world. Constant eruptions and earthquakes result in a thoroughly unpleasant environment. 4SPP, 2GPP
  E:1/6, Q:3/6
B: Rocky world. (Almost) no atmosphere, no major tectonic activity, this planets is... boring. The most notable terrain features are the craters that litter the surface. 2SPP, 2GPP
C: An ocean world. Covered in 94% water, with a breathable atmosphere, and a few inhabitable islands. Prepare for lots of island-hopping. 2SPP, 4GPP
  Q:6/6
D: An earthlike world. Covered in 69% water, with a breathable atmosphere, most of the surface being inhabitable. Terrain varies wildly, from open plains to thick jungles- and of course vast seas. 5SPP, 5GPP
  E:5/6, Q:0/6
E: A frozen world. Almost entirely covered in ice, with an atmosphere too thin to breathe. Ice sheets make for treacherous terrain, with snow-covered mountains being not much better. 2SPP, 4GPP
  E:6/6
F: Rocky world. (Almost) no atmosphere, no major tectonic activity, this planets is... boring. The most notable terrain features are the craters that litter the surface. 2SPP, 2GPP
  Q:4/6, E:0/6
G: A desert world. With a few salty 'seas' covering a mere 12% of the surface, the majority of this planet is dry as a bone. Vast sandscapes dominate, punctured by low, rocky hills, and the ocassional oasis. The atmosphere is breathable. 2SPP, 4GPP.
Ertex&Quillus: Earthlike worlds. Capturing the enemy homeworld results in victory. Yield no Production Points. I mean, they do, but those are already accounted for in your basic industry.

[Chiefwaffles]

Minor note: Unless I'm missing something, it's annoying to figure out where our ships are since we don't actually have a list of their locations or anything.
Plan: DROWN THEM IN DRONES


Build (Ground): 12x Aegis

Scrap (Ship): 1x Regular Cuttlefish
Build (Ship): 3x Armored Cuttlefish

Orders:
From Ertex
ITC moves 12x Aegis] to D.
7x Armored Cuttlefish to D.

From D
ITC moves to E to pick up Unit.

From F
ITC moves to D (in case we finish conquering the planet and need to transport troops/equipment elsewhere)

I'm excited.

Aegis will be a practically a paradigm shift. Even if they're not perfectly accurate and aren't cheap terminators, they should still be super useful. Any intelligence located - the exact position of Quillus troops, tanks, everything - will be near-immediately propagated to the entire Athena network.

This allows for Athena to make much more intelligent decisions without actually directly upgrading her. If an Aegis unit sees a particularly dangerous tank, all Aegis units will instantly know about where exactly it is and the nearest Sarissa launcher can immediately fire at its location without any need for a radio-in. It's hard to emphasize just how useful the near-instant propagation of all intelligence is.
Aegis units can even be good at anti-armor with just Raiders/Rangers. While they're again not super accurate, they can still have multiple drones fire at the same exact spot of a tank with their guns, quickly piercing its armor. And the more drones there are, the quicker is. Even if they don't have pinpoint accuracy, having anywhere from three to, well, any number of drones with Raider rifles knowing exactly where to try and shoot should pierce any armor they have. Then they also see a bit better than humans (infrared) and are much more durable than humans (especially since neither side on D has armored infantry). They should be able to coordinate excellently - each drone attacking targets chosen by Athena as a whole for optimal efficiency; the drones themselves may not be that great, but that doesn't change the fact that Athena is in charge.

Then there's also the part where we're practically adding over another Unit to D - this Aegis shipment represents 1,200 drones. For contrast, a Unit represents 1,000 soldiers.

Plan: DROWN THEM IN DRONES (1): Chiefwaffles

[piratejoe]

Plan: DROWN THEM IN DRONES (2): Chiefwaffles, Piratejoe

[Blood_Librarian]

I am worried about losing A.

Plan: DROWN THEM IN DRONES (3): Chiefwaffles, Piratejoe, Blood_Librarian

[Detoxicated]

Seawasp Drone
This Athena controlled drone has four small thrusters and a battery to keep it running for two days. It has.built in sensors at the core with antennas reaching in all directions. It is only lightly armoured except for a snapping part. This part is a set of highly reinforced pincer so the drone can attach itself at its prey. Depending on mission type this serves as a tag for athena. The seawasp however is also armed with a strong short range laser with whixh it can cjt a ship in two if given enough time.

[3_14159]

Let me propose an alternate plan:

Plan: DRONES EVERYWHERE!


Build (Ground):
10x Aegis (15GPP total)
1x Sarissa (2 GPP)

Scrap (Ship):
1x Regular Cuttlefish
Build (Ship):
2x Armored Cuttlefish
1x ITC

Orders:
From Ertex
ITC moves 8x Aegis to D (1.6TC).
New ITC moves 2x Aegis and 1 Sarissa to A (2.4TC).
6x Armored Cuttlefish to D.

From D
ITC moves to E to pick up Unit.

From F
ITC moves to D (in case we finish conquering the planet and need to transport troops/equipment elsewhere)

This would greatly expand the power of our forces on A.

[joha4270]

Plan: DROWN THEM IN DRONES (3): Chiefwaffles, Piratejoe, Blood_Librarian, joha4270

After a little more thinking i agree that this is probably the right plan. We are already driving them back, with a legion of fearless, expendable and durable soldiers on top it should be finished.

If we don't capture it, we are still probably going to move units away to support A/F

[andrea]

me, I am going to be contrarian and vote for pi's plan.
Also, why not put every item in its line in voteboxes? it makes it more readable when editing.

Plan: DROWN THEM IN DRONES (3): Chiefwaffles, Piratejoe, Blood_Librarian, joha4270
Plan: DRONES EVERYWHERE! (1): Andrea

[Blood_Librarian]

Theoritical design I came up with.

The Entropic Shield

This set of equipment, when activated in a specially designed space born emplacement, creates a form-fitting "shield" of high energy degenerate particulate matter combined with a gravitic field, similar to that of a plasma shield, with one critical difference. An incredibly complicated underlying "mesh" of Picoscale patterned relays that lead to giant slabs of inert metal  (Entropic batteries) which feed into specialized emission points to augment the plasma shield and to vent off "Entropic Energy" (Essentially a burst of gas designed to "cool" down the object), allowing it to be far more durable while also exhibiting more protective effects. The plasma shield is thin enough that when in idle, the ship only has a faint glimmer, until it is struck with any type of projectile, be it plasma, solid, or laser.

The Shield glows brightest when struck with a kinetic projectile which is promptly stopped with a gravity system, the kinetic energy is bled off as the matter turns to plasma, at the expense of the entropic batteries increasing in capacity until they are manually/ automatically turned off. In practice, visual scanners indicate that the projectile "Phases" into the shield, and vibrates intensely, instantly heating up and deforming. When the projectile is fully bled of kinetic energy,  the plasma that was once the projectile is pushed away. When the laser hits the shield, the bolt of energy looks to vibrate as intensely, and bleed similarly to a mass projectile. Around half the time, Matter sent into the shield is either fully disintegrated, or deflected away.

In short, the shield blocks both projectiles and energy weapons with equal ease, But there were certain design flaws that are emplaced that were required for the machines increased function:

If the machine is not turned off before it's batteries are fully occupied in power, permanent damage could occur in the slabs of metal, resulting in thermal cracks, damage and even permanent decrease in capacity, in extreme cases, the slabs may entirely disintegrate, and the entropic field of energy promptly escapes, decaying surrounding machinery and causing an incredibly hostile environment to repair engineers. (An active entropic zone melts people.)  Because of this latent flaw, captains can choose to keep their shields up for longer, allowing them to handle more firepower and even last in extended engagements before shield failure, putting short-term survival over long-term equipment function.

It was designed to work only in a vacuum, as the plasma shield itself has not been perfected to work with inward facing pressure at all times. Current tests cause the Entropic Shield to rapidly consume the air around it like a vacuum until the connected Entropic batteries explode, but the shield will last until the shield emmission themselves are melted and warped into non-function. Theoretically, it could work, but it was designed to be mounted on a starship with the following assumptions that it entails.

Although the machine can dissipate the Entropic energy through vents built into the hull, these vents cannot be protected with the shield, as it will simply re-absorb the entropic energy and result in a feedback loop.  This could be mitigated with multiple vents that are sometimes by the shield when required, or the vents be made more durable, but this allows the system too vent out the entropic energy, essentially allowing unlimited operation time barring combat restrictions

In short, a Gravitational system uses a mixture of time dilation and gravitational distortion to slow down the projectile while it is disintegrated by a plasma shield. The quantum level energies involved in this process requires a vent to dissipate the dangerous/chaotic energy away from built-in "batteries" to hold the energetic fields.